Past Times

That night, Sirius falls asleep and is wrapped in warm, safe dreams rather than the nightmares that constantly creep in. This time there’s a new face he can see clearly and it’s not that of his brother’s, but the messy haired man’s face. It’s James, but him in his earlier years, Sirius is as well in his younger years and the two of them are running through castle corridors. They’re laughing and making jokes, not unlike those they made earlier in the day in reality. For what seems like the first time in his life, Sirius sleeps peacefully through the night.

The next morning it’s firmly decided. James Potter will indeed be his new roommate. It just has to be him. After finishing getting ready for the day, Sirius eagerly presses on James’ number and waits for him to answer the call. The phone rings three times before the other man’s voice comes through, cheerfully and crackly.

“Good morning Sirius!” James calls out from his end of the call (they had already saved each others numbers the day before.)

“Morning James! Still looking to be my roommate?” Sirius is already certain on what James’ answer will be.

“Really?? You’ve chosen me out of all the very promising competition?” James makes a show of acting surprised, though he as well could tell yesterday that Sirius had instantly set his mind on him.

“Indeed I have, indeed I have,” Sirius plays into the act, “It was a grueling process on who to choose and you had luck on your side it seems.” James laughs lightly on the other end.

“Will I be able to start bringing my things over today?” James asks, and Sirius is pleased to hear that James is just as eager as he himself is to be moving in.

“The sooner the better” Sirius replies with a growing grin on his face that is very vibrantly reflected in his voice.

Sirius and James continue talking over the phone for nearly an hour before they realize the sooner they get off the phone, the sooner James can start bringing all his belongings over to move in. So, they hang up and Sirius busies himself with, once again, cleaning; though he uses cleaning as a way to pass time so often, there’s nothing really left for him to actually clean. All he can do now is watch TV and wait for James to come over to fill the flat and extra bedroom with what belongs to him.

About a half hour later, as Sirius is flicking through TV channels, the doorbell rings. He jumps up excitedly to answer the door.

“Hel-oh.” His excitement shrivels and dies and his happy tone turns ti slight disappointment as he opens the door and comes face to face with his brother.

“Happy to see you too.” Regulus deadpans, pushing his way past Sirius and into his flat.

“Why were you so excited to open the door, anyway?”

“I was hoping it was my new roommate.” The disappointment is so prominent in Sirius’ tone it’s laughable to hear.

“Ah, that was fast,” Regulus’ voice grows louder as he walks further into the flat and Sirius stays in the sitting area, “I thought you’d have taken longer to pick someone. I mean hell, you spend over an hour making sure your hair looks perfect every morning.”

“Shut up or get out of my flat.”

Regulus hums, satisfied to have annoyed his brother, the prick. Sirius goes back to channel surfing as Regulus joins him on the sofa, a bag of chips he found in a cupboard in his hands.

Another half hour passes and the doorbell rings yet again. Regulus laughs softly at how eager Sirius is to answer the door and Sirius turns to flip him off before opening the door. He waits this time to see who’s on the other side before immediately cheerfully greeting them.

He opens the door and there stands James, with two very heavy looking boxes in his hands while more boxes are inside his car parked outside.

“James!” Sirius cheers opening the door wider to allow enough space for James to walk in and set down his boxes.

“I would’ve been here sooner, but my friend, Peter, stopped by and chatted with me for a while,” James explains as he stands and adjusts his lopsided glasses.

Something about the name Peter makes Sirius’ stomach lurch and his chest twist angrily. Before he can even start to wonder why that could happen at the mere mention of a name of a man he’s never met, Regulus speaks.

“Beau,” he breathes out from where he’s still sitting on the sofa, then he snaps his mouth shut as though the word slipped out of its own accord. His gaze is fixed on James seeming to take all of him in.

“W-was that french?” James asks, clearly stunned and intrigued by the soft spoken French.

“Reggie and I both speak it fluently,” Sirius explains, trying desperately to stifle his laughter, but his brother looks so ridiculously entranced by James its making it near impossible not to let out a soft chuckle at the sight.

“Tu es très beau” Regulus says, this time absolutely meaning to let the words fall right out. Sirius whips around to gape at him.

“Regulus! That’s my new roommate! Arrête de flirter avec lui!” Sirius sputters, incredibly shocked. Regulus looked terribly embarrassed with himself not ten seconds ago, and now he’s spitting out compliments to Sirius’ new roommate in french? He just met the guy!

James is still standing in the doorway as the two brothers continue on fighting in french, having absolutely no clue at all what either are saying, but knowing for sure it’s about him. He’s absolutely entranced by the french, specifically the french coming from Regulus.

“Shut up or I will make you leave Regulus,” Sirius decides that’s the only sentence that was safe enough to say in english. Regulus grumbles but does indeed shut up.

Sirius turns back towards James, “Alright,” he goes on to speak to James, as if he and his brother weren’t just arguing about Regulus instantly flirting with James in french not five seconds ago, “Let’s get the rest of your stuff in, yeah?”

And that’s exactly what they do. Sirius helps carry in the boxes James has piled in his car and lugs them into his room, all while Regulus sits peacefully on the sofa, watching TV.

Once they get all the boxes in, James starts unpacking and Sirius offers to help, which he does dutifully for about fifteen minutes before he gets bored and starts chucking balled up socks at James who throws them right back.

This, just James and Sirius acting as though they’ve been friends all their life, feels as natural as breathing. There’s so awkwardness between them that there usually is between people who have quite literally just met. It’s so nice. It so nice in fact, that Sirius forgets all about the nightmares he has almost constantly at night and thinks about constantly during the day. He forgets that there’s anything outside of him and James laughing and joking like kids.

Though eventually, they both grow hungry and decide they will finish unpacking James’ belongings later. For now, though they’ll go out and get some food.

They walk into the sitting area and Sirius jolts a bit upon seeing Regulus still on the sofa, laying down now, but still there. He had admittedly forgotten his little brother was still in the flat or that he was there at all that day.

“You two are very loud, you know that?” Regulus announces when he catches sight of them walking back out into the room he’s lounging in.

“You remind me a lot of my friend Remus,” James comments with a small, fond smile on his face.

For the second time, the mere mention of a name of a man he’s never met before causes Sirius’ stomach to flutter, instead of lurch, and his chest twist, but with so many more emotions and none of them are anger. He couldn’t even begin to untangle the knots of feelings inside him if we tried to. Something inside him needed to meet this Remus.

“Sirius?” Regulus’ voice cuts through the confused haze of Sirius’ mind and his head snaps up as he blinks a few times.

“W-what? Yeah?” Sirius sputters, still confused how just a name invited such a rush of feelings in him.

As if Regulus can read his mind, he stifles a laugh and says “Something remind you of your past life?”

“Oh shut up, I never had any other life except this one,” Sirius protests at the same time as James asks,

“Past life?” and he sounds so clearly interested in the possibility of Sirius having a past life.

Sighing, Sirius goes on to explain the nightmares and Regulus’ theory that he and Sirius shared a past life before this one now. He even explains the scars both he and Regulus has and how they’re located in the same places they both get slashed at in their nightmares.

“That’s..wow,” James breathes out once Sirius finishes explaining it all.

“I know,” Sirius huffs, “It sounds utterly stupid, doesn’t it?” Though he’d never admit it, Sirius sort of believes he did have a past life with Regulus, and now one that intertwined with James’, considering that upon meeting him, his nightmares turned to fun filled dreams.

“No, no it doesn’t. It doesn’t sound stupid at all,” James says, and he sounds like he genuinely thinks it’s not some preposterous idea to even consider. “My friend Remus actually says he had a past life that, funnily enough, I was part of. Though he doesn’t think so just because of nightmares, he says he has all his memories from this past life of his. He’s also got scars from things he says happened in his other life.” James’ words tumbled out of his mouth, seeming eager and rushed to get out.

At the mention of Remus, Sirius’ heart beat picks up again. Maybe Sirius would admit to having a past life that both Regulus and James were part of. And hopefully, maybe even this Remus James has mentioned.